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12/18/12

BookHounds Review BUDDY by BRIAN McGRORY @CrownPublishing

Book Description

Award-winning journalist Brian McGrory goes head to beak in a battle royale with another male for a top-spot in his home, vying for dominance with the family’s pet rooster.

Brian McGrory's life changed drastically after the death of his beloved dog, Harry: he fell in love with Pam, Harry's veterinarian. Though Brian’s only responsibility used to be his adored Harry, Pam came with accessories that could not have been more exotic to the city-loving bachelor: a home in suburbia, two young daughters, two dogs, two cats, two rabbits, and a portly, snow white, red-crowned-and-wattled step-rooster named Buddy. While Buddy loves the women of the house, he takes Brian's presence as an affront, doing everything he can to drive out his rival. Initially resistant to elements of his new life and to the loud, aggressive rooster (who stares menacingly, pecks threateningly, and is constantly poised to attack), Brian eventually sees that Buddy shares the kind of extraordinary relationship with Pam and her two girls that he wants for himself. The rooster is what Brian needs to be – strong and content, devoted to what he has rather than what might be missing. As he learns how to live by living with animals, Buddy, Brian’s nemesis, becomes Buddy, Brian’s inspiration, in this inherently human story of love, acceptance, and change.

In the tradition of bestsellers like Marley and Me, Dewey, and The Tender Bar comes a heartwarming and wise tale of finding love in life’s second chapter - and how it means all the more when you have to fight for it.

About the Author

Brian McGrory is a longtime newspaper reporter, editor, and columnist. Born and raised in and around Boston, he went to college at Bates College in Maine. He worked for the Patriot Ledger in Quincy, the New Haven Register in Connecticut, and has written for and edited the Boston Globe since 1989. He has a twice weekly column that appears on the front of the metro section, for which he has won the Scripps Howard journalism award, and is the author of four novels. He lives in Massachusetts with his entire family.

SOURCE: PUBLISHERMY THOUGHTSLOVED ITDon't let the cover fool you. This is a memoir with a dog book. Well, ok, there IS a rooster involved but the author makes it clear right from the start that no rooster is going to come between him and his dog. Then he cute-meets a woman, who just happens to be his vet. Again, he has sworn off women since he has just come off a divorce and loves his single life with his dog. She has just gone through a divorce and when she spies him being especially gentle with his dog, her heart is forever his. There you go: that is the whole plot of what should be a romantic memoir, except that there is a rooster involved. Of course, nothing ever goes right when there is a rooster involved. As the author becomes more involved with his vet and her two daughters, he finds that THIS is what life is all about. Well, everything WOULD be great, except for the rooster that was supposed to be a hen. The two girls hatch an egg as part of a school project and they become extremely attached to this creature, baby talking, coddling and all. So as he becomes closer to this family unit, he learns that the chick is in all reality a rooster. A rooster now named Buddy, that is very protective of his girls. I have never laughed so much as when the author discovered that roosters can live for 15 years or so. As the family gets married and moves into a new home together, they make space for the rooster which truly rules the roost by giving him his own coop but the darn thing still comes in the house. McGrory is forced to make peace with Buddy or have pieces of him removed, peck by peck, as the two fight for dominance. This book should appeal to fans of animal-filled memoirs like Dewey and Marley and Me. McGrory knows how to capture your attention with his wit and you can feel the love he has for his animals.